1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a page turning apparatus for turning over a page of a medium such as a banknote etc and, more particularly, to a page turning apparatus constructed in a small size.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) and a teller machine are utilized in a financial institute etc. This type apparatus is provided with a banknote printer for printing a result of transaction on a banknote. This banknote printer incorporates a page turning mechanism for automatically turning over a next page when the page in the banknote is terminated by printing.
This page turning mechanism is capable of automatically carrying out the operation of turning over the page when terminated by printing. Consequently, a processing time can be reduced. It is desired that such a page turning apparatus be capable of turning over the page with a simple construction.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a prior art.
As illustrated in FIG. 10, a banknote PB is sandwiched in between a first feed roller 90 and a pinch roller 91 and carried in an arrowed direction A in FIG. 10. The page turning mechanism is provided with a page turning roller 94 and a feed roller 92 at an interval substantially corresponding to a length of one page of the banknote PB. A pinch roller 95 is disposed in a face-to-face relationship with the page turning roller 94, and a pinch roller 93 is disposed facing to the feed roller 92.
Provided between the pinch rollers 95, 93 are a presser 102 and a magnet 101 for moving the presser 102 up and down. The pinch rollers 95, 93 are moved up and down by up-and-down moving mechanisms 99, 100. A movable guide plate 98 is rotatably attached to a shaft of the feed roller 92. The magnet 101 pushes the banknote PB up, thereby bending the banknote. Following up this action, the movable guide plate 98 rotates.
A first sensor 103 is intercepted by an intercepting plate 98a of the movable guide plate 98. The first sensor 103 detects a maximum position of the page of the banknote that should be turned over. A second sensor 104 is intercepted by the intercepting plate 98a of the movable guide plate 98 and detects that the page of the banknote has been leafed up. The page turning roller 94 is driven by a first motor 96. The feed roller 92 is driven by a second motor 97.
An operation of this construction will be explained. The banknote PB is carried in an arrowed direction A so that the page is turned over. The banknote PB stops in a position where the banknote PB is held by the page turning roller 94 and the pinch roller 95, and by the roller 92 and the pinch roller 93.
Next, the pinch rollers 95, 93 are moved away from the rollers 94, 92 by the up-and-down moving mechanisms 99, 100. The banknote is thereby released from being held by those rollers. In this state, the presser 102 is raised. The banknote PB is thereby bent.
The pinch rollers 95, 93 are pushed up by the up-and-down moving mechanisms 99, 100, and the banknote PB is thus held. Then, the page turning motor 94 is rotated by driving the first motor 96. The feed roller 92 does not rotate, and hence the page that should be turned over swells out due to a friction between the page turning roller 94 and the page surface of the banknote. As the page swells out, the movable guide plate 98 is pushed up.
The page swells out, and, when the movable guide plate 98 intercepts the first sensor 103, it is judged that the swelling of the page reaches to the maximum position. When the first sensor 103 detects the movable guide plate 98, the presser 102 is moved down. Then, the pinch roller 95 is moved away therefrom by the up-and-down moving mechanism 99. With this operation, only the page to be turned over remains swollen, and other pages remain flat.
The page turning roller 94 is rotated in the page turning direction. The swollen page is thereby leafed up. The movable guide plate 98 intercepts the second sensor 104, thereby detecting that the page is leafed up. With this operation, the rotation of the page turning roller 94 is stopped.
Next, the feed roller 92 is rotated, whereby the banknote PB is rotated in the right direction in the Figure. The page leafed up is thereby turned over. Then, the banknote PB is carried to a printing mechanism positioned in the right direction in the Figure.
According o the prior art, the page turning operation is conducted by both of the page turning roller 94 and the feed roller 92 in cooperation with each other. This therefore requires the motor for the page turning roller and the motor for the feed roller. Further, the page turning mechanism needs the feed roller, and therefore a multiplicity of members of the feed motor, the pinch roller and the driving mechanisms are required.
Consequently, there arises a problem in which the cost increases with a greater number of parts. Moreover, the larger number of parts might cause a problem in which a space for the mechanism units becomes large enough to increase a size of the apparatus as a whole.